I agree to some extent with my imaginary English reader. American literary historians are perhaps prone to view their own nation

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问题    I agree to some extent with my imaginary English reader. American literary historians are perhaps prone to view their own national scene too narrowly, mistaking prominence for uniqueness. They do over-phrase their own literature, or certainly its minor figures. And Americans do swing from aggressive over-phrase of their literature to an equally unfortunate, imitative deference. But then, the English .themselves are somewhat insular in their literary appraisals. Moreover, in fields where they are not pre eminent -- e.g. in painting and music -- they too alternate between boasting of native products and copying those of the Continent. How many English paintings try to look as though they were done in Paris; how many times have we read in articles that they really represent an "English tradition" after all.
   To speak of American literature, then, is not to assert that it is completely unlike that of Europe. Broadly speaking, America and Europe have kept step. At any given moment the traveller could find examples in both of the same architecture, the same styles in dress, the same books on the shelves. Ideas have crossed the Atlantic as freely as men and merchandise, though sometimes more slowly. When I refer to American habit, thoughts, etc., I intend some sort of qualification to precede the word, for frequently the difference between America and Europe (especially England) will be one of degree, sometimes only of a small degree. The amount of divergence is a subtle affair, liable to perplex the Englishman when he looks at America. He is looking at a country which in important senses grew out of his own, which in several ways still resembles his own -- and which is yet a foreign country.  There are odd overlappings and abrupt unfamiliarities; kinship yields to a sudden alienation, as when we hail a person across the street, only to discover from his blank response that we have mistaken a stranger for a friend.

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答案 那么,提到美国文学时就不能断言它与欧洲文学是截然不同的。广而言之,美国文学与欧洲文学是同步发展的。在任何时刻,旅行者都可以发现欧美两地有着相同的建筑、相同的服式和书架上相同的书籍。观念,如同人和商品一样,已经毫无制约地跨越了大西洋,尽管速度有时稍慢些。当我提到美国习惯、美国思想等内容时,总想在这些词语前加上某种限定成分,因为美欧(尤其是美英)之间的差别只是程度而已,有时只有微小的差别;辨清差别的大小会是一件微妙的事情,这足以使英国人在看待美国时困惑不解。从重要意义上来说,英国人所审视的这个国家,是从自己国家中脱胎而来,而且在很多方面同英国国内的情形依然十分相像,但它同时却是另一个国家。令人奇怪的故土的重现与意外的陌生感共存,亲近突然变成了生疏,正如我们在途中与路对过的人打错招呼时一样,从他木然的表情反应中会猛然意识到自己是误把生人看成了朋友。

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